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Foreign Hacker Who Aided Islamic State Gets 20 Years in US

September 23, 2016 11:53 AM

Associated Press

FILE - A man types on a keyboard in front of the logo of "Kosova Hackers Security" in a photo taken in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Oct. 16, 2015. Kosovo native Ardit Ferizi was found guilty in a U.S. court of providing the Islamic State group information on more than 1,000 U.S. government and military workers.

A computer hacker who helped the Islamic State by providing names of more than 1,000 U.S. government and military workers as potential targets has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Twenty-year-old Ardit Ferizi, a native of Kosovo arrested last year in Malaysia, was sentenced Friday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. Earlier this year, he became the first person convicted in the U.S. of both computer hacking and terrorism charges.

Ferizi hacked a private company and pulled out the names, email passwords and phone numbers of more than 1,300 people with .gov and .mil addresses. The Islamic State published the names with a threat to attack.

Prosecutors sought the maximum sentence of 25 years. Defense lawyers said Ferizi meant no real harm and asked for a six-year sentence.